Some progress and plan changes...

Well, a few things have happened since the first update. First, I decided that I am going to go ahead and do a spring over and shackle reverse on this truck. This decision mainly stemmed from the need for larger tires to compensate for the diesel's lower RPMs, and also to gain some ground clearance and get a better ride. Since these two mods mainly involve fabrication, they should be relatively cheap as well. (Cheaper than a decent set of new lift springs anyways). As a good start, I located a set of decent condition stock springs. Thanks to Alex Garcia with Upstate Cruisers for the springs! I'll clean and paint these, and then install new bushings before I use them. Also I went ahead and cut off the spring and shackle mounts from the front end and re-welded the spring mounts to the front of the frame.

Once I get the springs cleaned up and the new bushings in I can use these to set where the rear shackle hanger needs to be. Since I don't have the engine in the truck anymore to load the springs to set the shackle location I'll have to temporarily add the engine and some more weight back to the truck. Also, I got the front half of the frame wire brushed. I'll probbably get the frame cleaned and ready for primer and paint this week. That's all for now...